Holidays of Hope

INTRODUCTION

We think that sometimes poverty is only being hungry, naked and homeless. Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty.

VISION

To have a functional society with positively developed human beings - adults, youth and children allco-existing peacefully and interacting in a meaningful manner for the benefit of our nation.

MISSION

Holidays for Aids Orphans trading as Holidays of Hope, offers children orphaned by Aids the opportunity to discover and heal themselves through holidays that give them the freedom to stop worrying about the situation they find themselves in and truly allows them just to be kids, by having fun in a loving, caring environment that promotes learning through play, self-knowledge and gives them the opportunity to build positive aspirations for the future.

BACKGROUND

The motivation to establish Holidays of Hope in January 2006 resulted from the realisation that psychosocial needs of these children are just as important as basic needs like treatment, nutrition, shelter, clothing and schooling all being catered for through the numerous already existing social initiatives. Holidays of Hope was registered as a section 21 company in March 2006 with a full time director and eight members of the board. The company was also registered as a NPO in November 2006.

HOLIDAYS OF HOPE: IN SUMMARY

Holidays of Hope caters for children from ages 10 - 18, boys and girls who come from families where their parents are deceased due to Aids and who are cared for by grannies or by extended family members.

The children are drawn from orphanages that cater for aids orphans and vulnerable children, additionally from home based care centres around Gauteng.

The first group of 40 children went on holiday in January 2006 and to date Holidays of Hope managed to send 400 children to the Happy Acres Youth Camp based in Magaliesburg and the Windy Brow Game Reserve & Youth Camp which is situated in Cullinan outside Pretoria.

SPONSORS

  • Rotary club of Sandton
  • Transnet
  • Eskom
  • PetroSA
  • Telkom
  • Springbok Atlas
  • Protours.

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT

Although the project has so far benefited the children in Gauteng, the scope is limitless considering that the present total number of AIDS orphans in the country is approximately R1, 2 million.

Presently, we are focusing on Gauteng, which has approximately 202,788 orphans according to the ASSA (Actuarial Society of South Africa) July 2006 report.

Programme

The holiday programme encompasses life-changing skills based learning through play

“Without play - without the child that lives in us - we will always be incomplete. And not only physically, but creatively, intellectually, and spiritually as well.” - George Sheenan